The Last Darling
by aussiecupcake
Summary: Peter Pan always had a thing for the Darlings. Perhaps it was their eyes; their compassion; their unwavering belief in fairies. Whatever is was, he always returned. Katherine 'Kit' Darling's family is killed in a car crash that leaves her the sole survivor. She's the very last Darling, and unlike her predecessors, when Peter comes to take her to Neverland - she's not coming back.
1. Chapter 1: Intro

Hi! Thank you so much for clicking this story! I know you're here for the good stuff, but before we get started, I've just got a few things to say first:

1\. This is my very first time using this website, so I'm just going to apologise in advance for any formatting errors or anything like that. I honestly have no idea what I'm doing.

2\. This story is a mix of Disney-verse and the 2003 version. Mainly Disney, but I've thrown and away and added a few things. Hopefully it'll make sense!

3\. Updates will be... fairly sporadic. Depression, RSI and homework make it very hard to put my virtual pen to virtual paper, and I'm also a terrible human being when it comes to procrastinating. I'm doing this to get back into writing again, so hopefully you can bare with me!

4\. Flames will be used to cook pizza and/or apple pies, depending on my mood.

5\. I'm Australian and I'll be using British spelling.

6\. This certainly isn't the first Peter Pan x Oc fanfic and it certainly won't be the last, but I really hope you guys like Katherine!

Again, thank you guys so much! The first chapter should be posted soon (I'm impatient and I JUST REALLY wanted to get this thing going).

Cheers!


	2. Chapter 2: I Believe in You, Peter Pan

**So, first chapter! Woo hoo! I'm so nerVOUS. Again, thank you for being here! This chapter is fairly short, but hopefully the next chapters will be a bit longer. I just needed to kickstart the story off, y'know?**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Peter Pan or Disney, just my oc, and I'm not making a profit off this.**

 **And without further ado, enjoy!**

* * *

Mother always found the time to tell us stories about Peter Pan.

No matter what happened, she would always tell us a story every second day. Even when Father left her. Even when she was sick. Even when she had a thousand things on her plate. Me and Todd would curl up on the lounge, and she'd sit in her armchair, her eyes drifting to the window, and she'd relay tales of when Peter Pan came to her window and took her to Neverland, how they fought pirates and met mermaids and explored forests. Every second night. Without fail.

Except today. Except this week.

My second week in hospital.

There was no lounge, no armchair. No Todd, no Mother. No stories. Just quiet.

The ugly gash on my arm stung, but I didn't really feel it. I was too deep in my own head to worry about my wounds and broken fingers, too focused on the pattern the moonlight made on the roof.

I kept replaying the crash in my mind. I kept seeing that moment when the truck collided with the side of the car, that exact moment my life ended and became a nightmare.

I squirmed in bed. _Just don't think about it._

I could leave hospital soon. "Just a few more days! You're nearly all better!" the nurse had chirped, like I wasn't going to be going to an orphanage as soon as I healed. Alone. A gross mass of anxiety curled around my stomach and made me sick. Was I going to have to scrub floors? Would they shout at me? Would I be fed properly?

I'd be fine, it was probably illegal to do that stuff nowadays - Mother always told me not to believe everything you see on tv. Mother knew everything. _Mother..._

I brought my good hand up and covered my face, like it would hold any tears in. I just... I wanted to hug her. I wanted her to hug me so I could bury myself in her warmth and her smile and I'd feel better. But I couldn't. She was gone.

I bit my tongue and my lip began to wobble. I was going to cry, just like I did every night. _Dammit_.

I sucked in a deep breath - _one, two, three_ \- and exhaled - _one, two, three_. They wouldn't want me to cry. If Todd was here, he'd bring me his teddy and make me cuddle it until I felt better. _Oh, Todd_. He was too small. Too young and too small and I had been right next to him, right next to him when that truck hit us, I could've protected him, I was his big sister and he trusted me -

I grunted and hit the bed with my fist. I had to be strong. For them. Taking one more deep breath I turned my head to the window and tried to find our stars... the biggest brightest stars in the sky. I squinted. I couldn't see them from this angle.

I had to see them. I always felt happier when I saw them. I sat up in bed and swung my legs out, gingerly touching my feet to the cold floor. I tip-toed to the window, and pushed the curtain aside.

It took me one second to find them. They were right where they always were. Two huge, bright stars, twinkling comfortingly up in the dark.

The first star, and the second star to the right.

I knew that the second star to the right led to Neverland. In Mother's stories, Peter flew up, up, up to the star and magically there was Neverland, a beautiful paradise laid out beneath him. I didn't know where the first star went. Maybe nowhere. Mother didn't even know the answer to that one.

I sighed, and leaned on the windowsill. Peter Pan would come and get me soon, surely. He came for Mother, and for Grandma Jane, and for Great Grandma Wendy. That meant it was my turn next. He'd come and sprinkle me with pixie dust and we'd fly away to Neverland and have adventures. I shut my eyes. That's what would happen. He was real because Mother had seen him. He'd come.

"I believe in you, Peter Pan," I whispered into my empty room.

Silence. Nothing. I was surprised I was surprised.

Dejected, but calmer, I crawled back into bed - who knows how late it was - but I left my curtains open. Just so he knew where I was.

 _Goodnight Mother_ , I thought, like I could project my thoughts up into heaven, and I closed my eyes.

This time, the car crash didn't follow me into my dreams.

* * *

 **What do you think? The next chapter will be more exciting, promise! xD**

 **Thanks guys, please review and see you next time! 3**


	3. Chapter 3: To Neverland

Hello and welcome to another chapter!

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! I can't believe how good a response this has gotten... all on the first chapter! Thank you all so so SO much, it means a lot to me! 3

I feel like this chapter isn't my best work... it seems rushed to me. I haven't written in a very long time; I'm a little rusty 😅 Apologies for any spelling mistakes - it's literally midnight right now.

Disclaimer: I don't own Peter Pan or Disney even tho I really want to

I hope you guys enjoy!

* * *

I packed my last pair of underwear in my bag and slowly zipped it shut, a heavy sigh escaping my lips.

That was the fourth time I'd checked the bag tonight.

I knew I had everything. My notebooks, pencils, phone, undies, chocolate bars. I was being dumb. Paranoid maybe? Stupid.

I paced around my room, rubbing the two fingers that used to be wrapped in a cast.

They'd healed up yesterday; good as new, the nurse said. So, I was off to the orphanage tomorrow.

I'd kinda miss the nurses. They were nice.

I inhaled shakily. I was all jittery. _Gosh_. My head spun and wobbled, and I flopped backwards onto my bed.

I wasn't ready. An orphanage? I wasn't ready to be an orphan! I wasn't an orphan! I had a mum and _her name was Bella Darling and she loved me -_

I brought my fist down on the mattress. My fingers - still a little tender apparently - ached from within, a gross kind of throbbing pain.

I reached up and unzipped my bag. For the fifth time. I dug around in the side pockets until I found my phone. My one saving grace.

The charge was still a reassuring 100%. It was 10:40pm...

Damn, that was late. I wasn't tired at all.

I opened the Angry Birds app. Shooting little green pigs would get me ready for bed.

While I played, my nerves ticked away. I was gonna march into that orphanage - who was I kidding I was gonna hide behind my escort's leg the entire time what was I talking about - I'd make heaps of new friends - they'd all think I was weird, I freaked out if there wasn't a window available nearby c'mon - some really cool couple was gonna adopt me and take me to their really cool mansion - I wasn't an orphan -

11:00pm. My eyes hurt.

I had to stop thinking about it. I was tempted to press the panic button above the bed and ask the nurse for sleeping medicine, but I knew they'd say no.

My finger hovered over the Photos app. My stupid, stupid, traitorous idiot self pressed it and tapped recents; and I was flooded with Mother's face, and Todd's smile, and my laughter.

She'd stolen my phone and snapped a selfie while we were painting Todd's room. We were decorating our new house. He'd wanted a pirate ship or a race car above his bed; he couldn't pick one. So we were doing a pirate race car. We had paint smeared on our faces and hands, I had my tongue out, Todd was giving the peace sign. Mother was grinning, her face glowing with laughter.

We'd needed more white paint, so we all hopped in the car and went down the road. We'd been happy. The truck driver had been tired.

We never finished the painting.

Wetness rolled down my cheek. I dropped the phone onto my chest.

I hiccuped, my body shuddering. Tears exploded from my eyes and I heaved, gasping and spluttering and sobbing, bringing my hands up to cover my face.

I couldn't cry. I promised myself I wouldn't cry. _No more crying_ , I told myself, my thoughts drowned out by the tears.

"The second -" I breathed, sucking in air through my nose, "the second star... to the right..."

Mother's lullaby. She always sung it when I was sad.

"The second star to the right... shines in the night for you," I forced out between sobs. "To tell you that the dreams you plan... really can - come true... The second star to the right - shines with a light that's rare..."

The tears lessened, just enough for me to breath in, and back out. _In, and out._

"If it's Neverland you need, it's light will lead you there..."

 _In, out. In, out._

There. I was okay. I was okay.

 _I'm okay._

I needed to go to sleep. I didn't bother to check the time, but I knew it was past 11:00.

I put my phone back in my bag and zipped it shut, again, my arms tired and hands fumbling. I just had to look at our stars, one more time.

I sat up and turned to the window - and paused.

It was open.

I moved forwards and peered out, and saw nothing but the car park, and the darkness.

"Why were you crying?"

I screamed and spun around, catching my foot and falling on my butt.

There was a boy. In the middle of the room. Floating. Watching me.

He stepped forwards and I screamed again, kicking at him, scrabbling at the wall to pull myself up. I grabbed the closest object to defend myself - a glass of water. I splashed myself in the face.

"Whoa, relax," the boy chuckled, like I was terribly amusing. "What's the matter with you?"

I raised the glass above my head, ready to throw.

"Who are you?" I demanded. The boy smirked, his eyes full or mirth.

"Why, you know who I am. I'm Peter Pan!"

 _Peter Pan_. My breath rushed out of my lungs. The floor fell out from beneath me. I felt myself go slack. Of course.

"Peter..." I spluttered uselessly, "Peter Pan?"

"That's right!" he said smugly, puffing out his chest. He began to float - _float_ \- and he tipped his head back and let out the strangest noise, like a dying bird. I gaped.

"Oh my - bloody hell..." I whispered, and dropped the glass.

"I heard you singing, so I thought I'd come listen," Peter remarked. A small glowing light emerged from his front pocket, but he didn't seem phased. I pointed like an idiot. "What's your name?" he asked me, tilting his head. "You must be Bella's daughter, you look just like her. You girls sure grow up fast, huh?"

He crossed his legs in the air and rested his head in his hands, like he was sitting on the floor. The light hovered next to him.

"I, uh - um - I'm Katherine. Katherine D-Darling. But my friends call me Kit. Bella Darling was - is- my mother, yes," I stammered, simply staring. Peter Pan was here. In my room. _**Peter Pan.**_

"Oh, I always knew you were real!" I cried abruptly, a smile bursting on my face, jumping with excitement.

I landed on the glass and fell back again, yelping, only this time Peter shot forwards and grabbed my arm before I hit the floor.

I stared. He was taller than me - only by a few inches. His hair was red, - super red, fire engine red - and short and unkempt, just on the verge of curls, and his clothes were simple, green and made of... leaves? His eyes were dark, sparkling with warmth and laughter. Exactly how I imagined him. Exactly how Mother described.

He pulled me up, and I cleared my throat.

"Thank you," I mumbled.

The floating light, perched comfortably on Peter's shoulder, suddenly flew towards me, bumping into my me and pushing me against the wall. There was a delicate kind of jingle, like tiny Christmas bells, and a sharp pain on the tip of my nose.

"Oh c'mon Tinkerbell, behave," Peter scolded the light.

"Tinkerbell," I gawked, and reached up to cup my hands around her. Her glow faded a tad, like someone had turned down the brightness setting, and I realised it was a... fairy. A tiny person with clear, glittering wings, huffing snootily at me.

"You're a fairy," I exclaimed, and she turned up her nose, "you're so pretty!"

Tinkerbell paused and puffed her hair, and I swear those blood red lips smiled. Mother had always said Tinkerbell was fairly vain.

I looked back up at Peter. He was gazing at me with an odd, somewhat thoughtful look on his face.

"What?" I said. Tinkerbell flew off to perch on his shoulder again.

"You're sad, aren't you?" Peter murmured, and his voice was soft and concerned and I instantly wanted to tell him everything.

I looked down, my cheeks going hot.

"Yes," I whispered at my feet.

"Hey, don't worry!" Peter said, and grinned, "a trip to Neverland'll fix everything!"

"Neverland?" I echoed, the floor doing that unsteady wobbling thing.

"Sure! Give her some dust, Tink! I'll teach ya to fly!"

Fly. I was going to fly!

Tinkerbell hovered over me and sprinkled a fine, golden shower onto my head. It was like it was raining glitter. Peter grasped my hand.

"Now, all you gotta do is think a happy thought and you'll go right up," he instructed, quite seriously. I squeezed my eyes shut.

 _Happy thoughts, happy thoughts_. Mother's stories, playing with Todd, painting, that time the final book of my favourite series came out...

"Are you thinking a happy thought yet?" Peter whisper-shouted in my ear.

I opened my eyes. I was still fixed to the floor; I hadn't moved an inch.

"Yes, I'm thinking a happy thought," I said, frowning, "why isn't it working?"

"Maybe you need more dust."

Tink practically threw a ball of the golden dust at me. I sneezed.

Happy thoughts! Passing that maths test... reading to Todd... baking cookies with Mother...

I hadn't moved an inch.

"Huh," Peter muttered, and he flew back to examine me, peering at me like I was some sort of alien. "You must be... _really_ sad."

Oh. Yeah. I was broken. Everything was broken.

I slowly sat down on the bed.

"Of course I can't fly. I'm never going to be happy again, am I?"

Peter shook his head at me vigorously, like I'd insulted his great ancestors.

"Don't be silly, of course you will. I can carry you to Neverland, no problem!"

Peter rushed forwards and scooped me into his arms like I weighed nothing. I yelped.

"Hang on!" he shouted.

"Wait!"

Peter froze, midair.

"What?"

"Can I take my bag?"

I pointed to my backpack. Peter rolled his eyes, but he leaned to the side and hooked the handle on his foot. He flicked it up and it landed perfectly in my arms.

"Okay, now you can hang on."

He shot me a devious look, and before I could say anything, he shot out the window and into the night like a bullet train.

I yelled and grabbed onto the collar of his shirt, squeezing my bag against me. The wind roared in my ears and my hair whipped aggressively at my face, street lights whizzing past below us.

" _ **Peter**_!" I hollered. He laughed. " _Slow down you idiot!_ "

"C'mon, have a little fun!"

" _Fun does not involve **dying**_!"

I screeched as he narrowly avoided becoming a pancake on the side of a building. Peter whooped, and I whimpered.

He slowed down, just a tiny bit. I hugged my bag... I was not dropping this.

Blinking open my eyes, I forced myself to look ahead... and only saw stars.

Hundreds and hundreds and thousands of stars, tiny twinkling diamonds against the dark velvet sky. I gasped. Peter's chest rumbled in what I assumed was a chuckle.

In the very centre of the sky, huge and glorious and perfect, was our second star. Neverland.

Looking down, I saw London, laid out below us like an endless miniature. Lights shone from windows, cars ran in a never ending stream through the roads. My heart hurt, just for a minute; London was my home, it was all I'd ever known. I'd miss the trains and the parks and the familiarity. Was this the last time I'd ever see it?

Then I looked back to the stars and I had no regrets.

"To Neverland!" I shouted, thrusting my fist forwards. The second star grew closer.

"To Neverland!" Peter shouted back, with just as much passion, and the star suddenly filled my vision, a blinding white and silver, a strange whooshing noise coming from somewhere behind me.

I squinted, grunting, and held my hand out to cover my eyes. My ears popped.

The light began to shrink, and shrink, and suddenly it was... the sun?

We burst into daytime, birds chirping somewhere in the distance. I looked down. It was no longer London; it was an ocean.

"Oh," I breathed. There was Neverland. Right there.

It was gorgeous; lush and green, like something off a postcard. The water glistened like melted jewels, rivers weaving their way through the forests, clouds ringing around the highest mountains.

I couldn't believe it. I was in Neverland. Mother's stories had failed to capture how stunning, how picturesque it was...

"Welcome to Neverland!" Peter said.

 _Home_.

* * *

Thanks for reading, and again, please review and let me know what you think! Until next time 3


End file.
